No room to sit

Psalm 1:1 - Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.

Isaiah 40:28-33 -

28 Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding.

29 He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.

30 Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall:

31 But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

~~~No room to sit~~~

Psalm 1 - The enticement of sin. Sin lurks, and when it attacks, it initially starts slow. First it gets you to walk, then it draws you in where you are standing and staring at it, then finally it causes you to sit, engrossed and consumed by it. Sin, by nature, is progressive, if you give it an inch to move, it will take a mile. Sin waits for and will take advantage of opportunity to rise up in someone. In Romans 7:13-25, we see that sin will take advantage to rise up, and where present, causes action that is counter to what is productive in a believer. In Genesis 4:6-8 we see God warning Cain about sin waiting... and we know the results of that encounter. Sin is "sitting" by to see who it can ensnare with its lies and deception, and sin always leads to death. In Romans 6:16 we see that slaves to sin are lead to death. Because sin is never satisfied, it always leads a person to wanting more because. Like a drug, it gives the doer a temporary high, but eventually the thrill of that sin wears off and it demands something more... dangerous. Sin wants to consume and feast, and when it finds a willing host, it invites itself in and will even set the table. In James 1:15, we see that sin is willing to start slow (Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.) Sin is willing to start as a thought, because eventually if you think about it enough, you will do it. It will start as a thought and slowly work its way into action, enslaving and destroying them in the process. The end result of sin IS death.

So sin is almost like an iceberg, most of its substance is not readily seen to the untrained (read unsaved here) eye. Sin is also like a fire, you can never give it enough.

However, while sin entices us to stop moving, dragging us to a stop, we see that the Cross gives us strength. The endless power of a Christian to go on is found in the infinite power and identity of Christ. Isaiah 40:28 shows some of the identity of Christ - "Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding." To put this in terms of today, it is asking "Don't you know? Haven't you heard? Our everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, He doesn't faint, grow weary, and He cannot be compared to"

That is the nature of our Savior, the nature of Christ. He defines strength, He defines power... He defines infiniteness in every aspect of the word infinite. The identity which Christ has forged is also the identity of every believer. In Romans 6:4, when a Christian is saved, he is given newness of life. At salvation a Christian is given a new identity, an eternal identity.In Galatians 2:20 (I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.), the believer is crucified with Christ and no longer lives. The believer no longer has a life of his own, rather, he has surrendered it to Jesus Christ, who now lives in him. And if it is Christ that now lives in the believer, then the believer now lives with the benefits of that life that Christ has, which is the believers new identity. That life can found in part (and in contrast to Psalm 1) again, in Isaiah 40. In versus 29-31, we see that the believer is empowered though Christ to press on. This new life, this restoration and oneness with Christ lends not only to action, but action with a growth in momentum! When the nature of Christ indwells man and replaces his heart of stone with a spiritually living heart, with every beat of that hear, the Christian finds new life, a new vigor to hold to, a new energy to run with. It is with this heart, this restored heart, that a Christian can Run the good race and keep the faith. The identity of Christ not only lets the Christian keep moving forwards it also frees them from sin on an ongoing basis. With I John 5:18, the Christian who is saved walks safe and stops sinning. The power of sin dwindles and the power of Christ grows as the believer renews his mind in the word and keeps his strength with the joy of the Lord. When a believer is focused on and is in communion with Christ, he relies on the new identity that Christ has given him to live out.

So with the contrast of Psalm 1 and Isaiah 40:29-31, it becomes clear my friends that there is no room to sit. To give way to sin is following the very steps of death itself. Every sin can be "justified" on some level, but once given into, it will drag the spiritual life away from the believer and leave only chains behind, and eventually lead inexorably to death. Psalm 1 shows that sin is like a disease, it is progressive and aggressive. The tendrils of sin, once entrenched are impossible to remove without the help of a higher, greater power. But, the higher power, found in the identity of Christ, not only gives power to remove the barbs, but also the strength to get moving, and only that... keep moving.